The Production and Consumption of Music in the Digital Age

The economic geography of music is evolving as new digital technologies, organizational forms, market dynamics and consumer behavior continue to restructure the industry. This book is an international collection of case studies examining the spatial dynamics of today's music industry. Drawing on research from a diverse range of cities such as Santiago, Toronto, Paris, New York, Amsterdam, London, and Berlin, this volume helps readers understand how the production and consumption of music is changing at multiple scales - from global firms to local entrepreneurs; and, in multiple settings - from established clusters to burgeoning scenes. The volume is divided into interrelated sections and offers an engaging and immersive look at today's central players, processes, and spaces of music production and consumption. Academic students and researchers across the social sciences, including human geography, sociology, economics, and cultural studies, will find this volume helpful in answering questions about how and where music is financed, produced, marketed, distributed, curated and consumed in the digital age.

Brian J. Hracs is a lecturer at the School of Geography and Environment at the University of Southampton, UK. Michael Seman is a senior research associate at the University of North Texas Center for Economic Development and Research. Tarek E. Virani is a post-doctoral research associate at Queen Mary University of London.

Part I: Introduction 1. Introduction: The Evolving Economic Geography of Music [Brian J. Hracs, Michael Seman, and Tarek E. Virani] Part II: Recording 2. Laptops, Pro Tools, and File Transfer Protocols: On the Intensification and Extensification of Recording Work in the Digital Age [Allan Watson] 3. Disturbing Production: The Effects of Digital Music Production on Music Studios [David Arditi] Part III: Working 4. Working Harder and Working Smarter: The Survival Strategies of Contemporary Independent Musicians [Brian J. Hracs] 5. From Artist to Entrepreneur: The Working Lives of London-Based Rappers [Laura Speers] 6. Hip-Hop Tunity: Challenges and Opportunities for Indie Hip-Hop Artists in the Dutch Music Industry [Joni R. Haijen] 7. "Working at the Candy Factory": The Limits of Nonmonetary Rewards in Record Industry Careers [Alexandre Frenette] Part IV: Playing 8. The Resilience of a Local Music Scene in Dalston, London [Tarek E. Virani] 9. Landscapes of Performance and Technological Change: Music Venues in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Nashville, Tennessee [Ola Johansson, Margaret M. Gripshover, and Thomas L. Bell] 10. What's the "Newport Effect"?: Music Festivals, Touring, and Reputations in the Digital Age [Jonathan R. Wynn and Rodrigo Dominguez-Villegas] 11. Musicians and Temporary Spaces: The Case of Music Festivals in Sweden [Johan Jansson and Jimi Nilsson] Part V: Distributing 12. Exploring the "360 Degree" Blur: Digitization, Sonic Capital, and the Strategic Orientations of Electronic Indie Labels [Hans-Joachim Bürkner] 13. More Than Just Bytes?: Responses to Digitization in the Paris Cluster of World Music Production [Amanda Brandellero and Robert C. Kloosterman] 14. Emotional Landscapes and the Evolution of Vinyl Record Retail: A Case Study of Highland Park, Los Angeles [Tyler Sonnichsen] 15. Music Rights: Towards a Material Geography of Musical Practices in the "Digital Age" [Andy C. Pratt] Part VI: Promoting and Consuming 16. Unpacking the "Digital Habitus" of Music Fans in Santiago's Indie Music Scene [Arturo Arriagada] 17. The Evolution of Music Tastemakers in the Digital Age: The Rise of Algorithms and the Response of Journalists [Bastian Lange] 18. Leveraging Affect: Mobilizing Enthusiasm and the Co-Production of the Musical Economy [Andrew Leyshon, Nigel Thrift, Louise Crewe, Shaun French, and Pete Webb]